15, Mealcheapen Street

WORCESTER

SO8554NW MEALCHEAPEN STREET 620-1/17/438 (South side) 22/05/54 No.15

GV II

Inn, now shop. 1748 with later additions and alterations including renewed late C20 ground floor and shop front, and attics. Pinkish-red brick in Flemish bond with renewed timber cornice and plain tile roof; probably with timber frame. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys with attics, 3 first-floor windows. First floor has 12/12 flush sashes under flat arches of gauged brick and with outer triangular and central segmental baseless pediments of rubbed brick. Dentil cornice. Hipped roof dormers have casement windows. Ground floor: at left a C20 6-flush-beaded-panel door with 4-pane overlight and flat arch. Shop front has glazed windows and central glazed door with Victorian style outer pilasters and fascia. INTERIOR: noted as retaining roof timbers with raised principals (Hughes 'upper crucks') and collars; some interior features intact including deal panelling and fluted pilasters to first floor, front room. HISTORICAL NOTE: from C16 to C19 Nos 15 and 16 (qv) were leased together, and was first licenced as an inn in 1608; in 1618 the inn, known as The Prince's Arms (for Prince Henry) was rebuilt and it was rebuilt in its present state in 1748. During the C19 he inn was known as The Shades. Mealcheapen Street flourished particularly in the C16 and early 17, predominantly as a retail outlet; Hughes: 'it was the proximity to the Cornmarket that gave the street much of its prosperity and led to the establishment of a number of large inns.' The listed buildings in Mealcheapen Street form a group with the listed buildings in Cornmarket and with Church of St Swithun, Church Street (qqv). (Hughes P: Buildings and the Building Trade in Worcester 1540-1650: PhD thesis: 1990-: 199-200, 220-1).